Abstract
Studies conducted in educational settings show that animals attract and maintain the attention of children. The calming effects of animals are especially valuable in children with attention deficit, hyperactivity and behavioral disorders. The primary goal was to improve the emotional well-being, in a special education school, of children with intellectual disabilities, attention problems and/or hyperactivity and behavioral disorders. A Longitudinal, Observational Study was designed, which consisted of a community intervention based on animal-assisted therapy (AAT), and performed at a Primary Care Center (PCC). Twelve weekly group sessions were held with therapy dogs; a nurse and a doctor from the PCC participated with training in AAT as well as teachers. The intervention was carried out in two classrooms at the school. The sample size was 12 children with an average age of 12.7 (SD±4.4) years. Variables studied: attention, happiness, relaxed, respect of turn. The overall improvement of the four variables was statistically significant (p <0.001), evolving in an ascending and progressive way. Throughout the sessions, a work dynamic was achieved with improved attention and respect of turns; happiness and relaxation that reflect emotional well-being remain at high levels, with the dog acting as a facilitator of the therapy. Primary Health Care can contribute to improving the quality of life of children with special needs and at risk of social exclusion by means of community interventions.
Highlights
Primary Health Care is the first level of access to public health care
The focus of the research in many of the reviewed studies was largely socio-emotional, including the effect of animals on mood, emotional regulation, social behaviors and general behavior in the classroom; as well as adherence to and follow-up of instructions issued by teachers [27,37] The happiness and relaxation variables that best reflect the emotional well-being of the participants, obtained a progressive improvement, achieving maximum scores in the last session in more than 50% of the participants
Therapy dogs promote the autonomy of schoolchildren; children learned to pay attention to the needs of others and take responsibility for their welfare [10]; and as we have found in our study, to respect the waiting times when it was necessary and to improve the work dynamic in the classroom
Summary
Primary Health Care is the first level of access to public health care It is comprised of interdisciplinary teams of professionals from Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Dentistry, Nursing, Nursing Assistants, Social Workers and patient care professionals. These teams work with the objective of offering the highest quality health care, placing citizens at the heart of the health care process, taking care of their health throughout the vital process. Community interventions are actions aimed at groups or collectives of people, which can be carried out jointly or otherwise with other services and with the same implicated group that has a common need and are oriented to improving their health [2] This project is a community intervention that was carried out in a Special Education School in order to promote the health of children with special educational needs by improving emotional well-being
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